Mycology Toolkit

Our theme for Eden By The Bay this year is "Fungus Among Us: Mushrooms". While learning about mushrooms, nomenclature and terminology, I found a few excellent resources. This post captures a few of them, especially those relevant to Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. They provide the start of a mycology toolkit for further research.

False Turkey Tail (Stereum ostrea)

Societies and Organizations

For enthusiasts and professionals:

• Mycological Society of San Francisco (MSSF) - https://www.mssf.org/

• North American Mycological Association (NAMA) - https://namyco.org/

• Fungi Perfecti - https://fungi.com/

Apps & Websites

Resources for identifying the fungi found in the field:

• iNaturalist (phone app) - https://www.inaturalist.org/

Identify mushrooms, and submit questions, photos, and observations. Available for iPhone at the Apple Store and Android at Google Play.

• MykoWeb - https://www.mykoweb.com/

Devoted to the science of mycology and the hobby of mushrooming. It is a production of Michael Wood, a past president of the Mycological Society of San Francisco.

• Mushrooms of California - https://www.californiafungi.com

Describes the higher fungi found in the state of California.

 

Databases & Educational Resources

Specialized databases for identification and research, such as: 

• USDA fungal databases - https://fungi.ars.usda.gov/

• MycoBank - https://www.mycobank.org/

• Marine Fungi - https://www.marinefungi.org

• University of California Museum of Paleontology - https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/fungi/fungi.html

• Mycologue Publications - https://www.mycolog.com/

The Fungarium

The Fungarium at Cal State East Bay - https://www.csueastbay.edu/news-center/2023/04/the-fungarium-at-cal-state-east-bay.html

The HAY Fungarium at Cal State East Bay, directed by Professor Brian Perry, is a specialized collection of over 6,000 macrofungal specimens, focusing on diversity from California, Hawaii, and Vanuatu. Located in the Department of Biological Sciences, it supports research in mycology, systematics, and, frequently, student-driven studies on fungal biodiversity.

Access to the HAY Fungarium at Cal State East Bay for research or specimen loans is managed by Dr. Brian A. Perry, who can be contacted at brian.perry@csueastbay.edu. Information about the collection is available online via MyCoPortal, and researchers interested in borrowing specimens should review their specific loan policies.

Community Scientist Projects

You can participate in mycological research as a community scientists. To get started:

• Get out into nature 
• Educate yourself on what to look for and what's out there.
• Use tools like iNaturalist to identify specimens
• Collect and document specimens, following local and scientific guidelines.

Find a project, for example:

• iNaturalist - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects

Submit your photos and descriptions to contribute to science.

• Mycomap - https://mycomap.com/projects

Find one or more projects to follow.

• Fungal Diversity Survey - https://www.fundis.org/get-involved

Become a community scientist in one or more programs.

Dyeing with Mushrooms and Lichen

An introduction to dyeing with fungi:

• North American Mycological Association: A short Selection of the Best Mushrooms for Color -  https://namyco.org/interests/education/dyes-and-papermaking/a-short-selection-of-the-best-mushrooms-for-color/

• Mycopigments: Lichen Dyes - https://www.mycopigments.com/blogs/news/lichen-dyes

Spring Watch

We've been enjoying a range of weather here in the Bay Area, as winter starts winding down. The temperature highs range from the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties F., with a mix of sunny, rainy, and overcast days. I've taken quite a few hikes looking for mushrooms, so have been observing the subtle transition from winter to spring. Flowering trees are finally blooming, as are ceanothus shrubs. Spring bulbs are slowly emerging all over the neighborhood. Our "new" garden is waking up with a few California poppies.

Roaming in nature, looking for mushrooms and signs of spring

Last week we had a brief "heat spell" – the temperature peaked in the mid-seventies F. for a couple of days. It felt wonderful. Best of all were the warm breezes that rustled through the tall trees in the neighborhood. They stirred familiar memories of warm spring and summer days, and all the pleasures that go along with it. I've enjoyed winter, but am looking forward to spring produce, lounging on the patio with my family, tending the garden, and planning trips to near and far-flung places.

Mushrooms for Color

This year we're exploring the Fungi kingdom, and learning about mushrooms in the garden, great outdoors, kitchen, and dye pot. Our first book is Mushrooms for Color, by Miriam C. Rice (1918-2010) and Dorothy M. Beebee. This book was published by Mad River Press, Inc. (Eureka, California, 1980). Rice was an artist-in-residence at the Mendocino Art Center and became fascinated with dyeing fibers with mushrooms. Beebee is an illustrator and artist, and collaborated with Rice. Together they developed a full-spectrum color wheel of mushroom dyes, including yellows, blues, and reds. They both worked with mycologists, scientists, and enthusiasts from around the world, and became experts themselves, delivering presentations at conferences and leading workshops.

The section on Mushroom Dyes provides basic information about mushrooms, mordants, color, and color fastness, dyeing, and the use of protein fibers (especially wool and silk). The section on Color Index describes the colors that mushrooms produce using different mordants, provides a color index of mushroom dye colors, and documents formulas and dye experiments. The section called Identifying and Classifying Mushrooms for Color was written by mycologist Dr. Susan D. Libonati-Barnes, and provides scientific information about fungi, how to identify mushroom types, parts, and species, how to classify mushrooms, and how to collect them.

The sections Identifying and Classifying Mushrooms for Color and Drawings and Descriptions of Dye mushrooms were written and illustrated by Dorothy M. Beebee, and provide information about the mushrooms and dye results, with notes about the mordants, mushroom parts, and processes used. Beebee uses the knot format that Rice developed as a shorthand to quickly convey this information (for example, no knot means no mordant, one knot means alum mordant, and five knots means iron mordant). The backmatter provides an appendix about Chemistry of Mushroom Dyeing by Erick Sundstrom of Sweden; a Mushroom Index that focuses on dye mushrooms in Northern California; and a bibliography of related publications.

Charming illustration by Beebee, showing mushroom morphology (page 66) 

This is a wonderful reference book for mushroom dyers. It's also conveys how interest in mushroom dyeing started, grew, and spread around the world, all within the last 50 years. Rice and Beebee were passionate about finding out what dye colors mushrooms could produce. They kept records, worked with mycologists and scientists, and shared information. I especially appreciate that the book describes the dye mushrooms found in Northern California, such as Agaricus, Boletus, Cortinarious, Omphalotus, and Polyporus species. The book documents dye outcomes using chrome, tin, and copper as mordants, but informs the reader how poisonous they can be and recommends using salts, alum, cream of tarter, and iron instead. The color photos of dye colors and the detailed mushroom drawings add so much. I highly recommend this book as a resource.

Learn More

Recall that we watched the documentary, Mushrooms for Color, about Rice and her pioneering work extracting dyes from fungi (see Winter Movie 2026).

For information about Beebee and Rice, see the documentary, Try It and See: The story behind the discovery of mushroom dyes.